Today's conventional surf board is manufactured from reinforced fiberglass and is carefully engineered and designed for maximum efficiency in the water. With the various improvements in the design and construction of surf boards, the purchase of such surf boards represents a substantial investment. In normal use, however, the surf boards are subjected to a variety of shocks, stresses and adverse physical conditions which significantly shorten the effective life of the surf boards.
In order to improve the surface of the surf boards, the top side of the surf board is generally covered with a wax which will create a tacky, yet soft surface to reduce the likelihood of the surfer sliding off of the board. The waxes used, however, are extremely sensitive to the sun. It is a common experience when the board is out of the water and resting on the beach to find that the sun melts the wax. Wind can blow sand and debris into the wax, and significantly impair the surface for the surfer. Laying the board top side down on the beach simply increases the surface area in contact with sand.
The practice has developed of standing the board upright in the sand as opposed to laying it down on the sandy beach, with the waxed side away from the sun and wind, thereby minimizing wax meltdown and sand being blown onto the principal surface of the board. Nevertheless, this requires that the nose of the surf board be pushed into or buried in the sand.
Repetitive thrusting of the nose of the surf board into the sand can cause substantial injury to the surf board through abrasion against the hot sand, shells, coral or any other objects buried in the sand, as well as any damage that may be imposed as a result of the force of pushing the nose of the surf board into the sand. A more serious problem, although not so readily apparent, is the effect of the hot sand on the general overall construction of a cold surf board. When a surfer leaves the water, the surf board is at a temperature approximately the same as the water temperature, which is well below the ambient air temperature. The sand, on the other hand, having been sun heated, is well above ambient air temperature. In general, the temperature differential between the sand temperature and the board temperature will be at least twenty degrees, and frequently is considerably higher. The stresses in the board can be compared to the stresses encountered when hot water is poured into a chilled glass, usually leading to the stress cracking of the glass. When the hot surf board is placed into contact with the hot sand, either by thrusting the cold board downward into the sand, or by burying a part of the upright board in the sand, substantial stress cracks occur, leading to deterioration and softening of the board materials including cracking and weakening of the fibers that were imbedded for strength. In time the board surface will crack sufficiently to cause leakage of water into the interior of the board during normal surfing operations.